Calendar pages complete and a Mixed bag of goods

As you all know I was doing calendar pages along with Roni over at her blog Ink stains with Roni. I have completed all of them now and want to show you the rest of them. I enjoyed making this project, I learned some new things, made myself something for a change and got a much needed calendar. Although this one I won't be able to write notes on it for myself but I can enjoy it just the same.

Although August isn't usually fall colours yet but being in Canada we actually see subtle changes coming in late July. 

August- Melted Crayons...I liked this technique

 September- Stamped Gesso

 October- Distressed Glue

 November-Molten Pigments: ie I didn't have pigment powders so I scraped chalks into my glue

 December-Sparkle Mosaic Stamping: I didn't have scrap rubber so I used fun foam

 So there you have it....I am really pleased for the most part. I have decided to start an Art technique Journal and put scraps of paper that have been clipped from each calendar page and write down the technique. That way when I want to do something again I have it handy. Another goal for this year.

And....more stuff, are you bored yet???

Over at Helga's blog My Artistic Life, Helga gives a tutorial on how she painted a background which I applied to my little hearts.  Here are a couple little Valentines to show you how I made mine. I used chip board off the back of a 12x12 paper pack. I cut out hearts, punched holes at the top, painted them using the following colours...Delta Apple Green to splatter, Americana Baby Pink, Americana Canyon Orange and Delta Cardinal. I pounced instead of brushed on my colours. First  I gave my chipboard hearts a coat of gesso. I punched an inchie punch out of scrap and used the window to draw it on the heart and cut it out before I painted, I Painted the heart back and front. Use heat gun to speed up drying. Then I print and cut images a bit larger to fit over the window on my heart. I then added grommets to my heart to put ribbon through. Covered the back of the heart with a smaller shaped heart from designer paper with pinking shears so I can add To and From. Aren't they the cutest? I am not usually into Valentines but for some reason this triggered it....thanks Helga for some inspiration.

 Click on the images to get a good close up of the colours, they blended so nicely with the pouncing I did.

 And....there's more....wake up.....

These are some bamboo tiles I got from a kit I ordered a while back from Artchix Studio. The kit contained a sheet of images, a few bamboo tiles. I won a challenge on Facebook back late summer so I finally ordered a few things and used my coupon. I am addicted to these suckers. I posted on FB I was looking for place mats and lo and behold my Mum found me some and I was able to locate some locally but I will wait till Mum's arrive before I set out for more. There are 130 in one place mat. They come in black, natural and a walnut colour. wooohooo, I love these. My dictionary pages are getting cut up as I am cutting words out of it and adding to some. I used ball chain to hang them and I experimented and coloured one ball chain with alcohol ink and I was amazed at how wonderful it turned out.

I must thank Jenxo who sent me one of these

 along with a swap we had over Christmas, it sparked  ideas. I have received many comments on it and I plan to sell these in the fall. They are so addicting and you could put many things on these besides images. Stay tuned as I have so many ideas for these I can't stop....

And last but not least some wooden puzzle piece magnets. I loved that heart colour I did a couple puzzle pieces. Added some images I had on the computer, found a few quotes online and added some either bling or Stickles for interest.

Thank you for bearing with me during this long post.

It is raining here when it should be snowing so we are on high flood alert in the basement.

Til next time, stay crafty my friends.

♥

More Calendars, an ATC and Hearty goodness

I have had these few calendars done since late last week but with Blogger acting up and things going on around here I am only getting to these now. The days are flying by so my calendar will be put to good use very shortly.

Here are the following months......

May-Colorized bleach....I think this is my fav technique so far.....

June....Gradient Stamping with a Twist

July...... Bubble Wrap Emboss Resist

August Calendar will be coming soon, I needed to buy Crayons for that one..

Remember to take a peek over at Ink Stains with Roni for all of her techniques. You can find all the Months on her Right side bar. This is a lot of fun.

And here is a challenge for Bella Creations in the OhLaLa group.

Heather gave us a Gecko Gal Bingo card image only to work with.

Here I did some Gimp (Image Manipulation), added the B/W girl image and coloured her, added butterfly wings, then replaced the O in Bingo with a Gimp brush.

I inked the edges with Jumbo Java Ink by Tsenko then pleated some pink ribbon and seam binding together, added my little safety pin and charms. Overall this was a good challenge for me to use Gimp and get more practise. I am coming along but I am no where near a Graphic Artist....yet...

One more little ditty.....

On Artchix, Helga gave a little tutorial for painting hearts using their Eco Shapes. I didn't have any on hand so I cut my own hearts out, made an inchie window, painted with similar colours that Helga used. I think they turned out pretty spiffy. I love the slip slap of paint and blending right on the surface. Of course I used a good scruffy brush for this then I used a toothbrush to splatter on the Apple Green. Love the combos here.

Thank you for dropping by.

I can't remember if I posted but the car is fixed, many dollars later but I am up and running.

It was covered in ice from last weeks ice storm but it is OK now and I am a Happy Camper.

Keep arty my friends.

♥

Ink Stains with Roni Calendar

I told you in my post 2 posts ago I was doing the 2012 Calendar with Ink Stains with Roni and wow, I am having fun.

Over the weekend I got all caught up, Roni is posting a calendar each day with a technique background. If you wander over to her blog you can follow along, make a calendar for yourself or just use the techniques in your artwork. Some of these are new to me and some are not, but, as you may know me, I do with what I have on hand and may even throw in my own version. Roni has all the month techniques posted on her right sidebar to find the month that has been done. I will wander over after I post to see what  the month of May  is all about.

I already showed you my January calendar here...(scroll down to the last picture for January), and. here are the the months up to April.....

February is called Floating Starts technique

 March is Wax Paper Die Cut but I cut my own shamrocks by hand, I don't have a die cut. This was tricky....argh

 And April is Reverse Grid Stamping Technique

I have been using up borders I punched out from other projects, some mini images that I had printed off, I am digging out supplies I have stashed away and I get a calendar out of it. How fun is that????

Lesley is a happy Camper.

Stay tuned for more months to come and don't forget my Giveaway

Giveaway Preview and my new Calendar

Today I am posting at 299 so that means I am getting ready for my big 300th post giveaway.

I will be showing you a sneak peek of 2 items that will be included in the prize package.  I decided I needed to destash a bit and of course I love to make things to give away so here is a slight preview.

I won't go into a lot of details in what these are, you may know as soon as you see them, 1 item I featured during the holidays and they were a hit so I decided to make a few new themed ones. And I am on Pinterest and found a neat idea and sort of got addicted to making some of these with my burnt glue butterflies and some shrink plastic charms I recently made. I am really liking making charms of late, not just shrink plastic but with beads and other items. Fun to add your own embellies especially with the stuff you have on hand. Believe me I really have more stuff and not sure how I managed so much but I know some of it comes from the lovely people I have traded with over the years. So much fun getting things from other places.

So enough rambling...here is the sneak peek and stay tuned for the 300th post when I will give you the rules...and we have to have rules. If you would like or be so kind to add the button on the side bar to your blog you may just get another added chance to win.

 And over at Ink Stains with Roni, Roni is having her 3rd Annual Calendar challenge. Well not so much a challenge but posting techniques for backgrounds and making a calendar for the New Year.

So this year I decided since I only have  1 calendar  for this year I would join in and what better way to learn some new things and use my art supplies I have on hand. If you want to check the techniques out go to the link I have provided and follow along. Roni is already on April, my goodness the time sure flies when you are creating.

I have to show you my January calendar, I made the template a bit smaller (you can get it over on Roni's blog)  because I will probably have it here in the computer room and I don't want a huge one. All the techniques are wonderfully demonstrated with clear instructions. This technique is painted tin foil, embossed in the CB. Then I added Twinkling H20's because I don't have any glimmer mists but I will be making my own this year. I just need good spray bottles. After my Twinkling's dried I wasn't really sure I liked it so I did have some Radiant Rain in gold and when I added that the colours and embossing just really popped. I added Delta Snow Tex for snow then when it was still wet I added Diamond Dust to it. Then I finished embellishing it. I have Feb and March just about done. Things are drying so I will feature them in a separate post from my 300th Giveaway post. Click on the image to see the wonderful colours and details.

Thanks for dropping by and stay tuned for my next 300th post.
♥